Proof of Existence
by owlpostagain
Summary: Were Saïx not a Nobody, and therefore capable of feeling, he would have not liked walking through Proof of Existence. One shot.


I don't particularly like Saïx, but the tragedy of the demise of Isa's and Lea's friendship gets me every time. So does Proof of Existence. It's one of the only two locations in any video game that I make the characters walk quietly through the room instead of running across it (the other being the Temple of Time in Ocarina of Time).

I own nothing. I just like to play.

As always, for Emily, you brat.

* * *

Were Saïx not a Nobody, and therefore capable of feeling, he would have not liked walking through Proof of Existence. The room was no whiter or colder than any other in the castle; the walls just as pale, the tile just as frigid, even through the layers of his coat and clothes. Were it not for the contents of the room it would be no different than any other.

But it was the contents of this room that would have left a chill in Saïx' heart, had he had one. The eerily glowing archways, crumbling one by one as the Nobodies they represented fell, their _pathetic_ attempts at being remembered that couldn't even outlast them by a day. Only Roxas' had remained semi-erect, shining blue instead of red under the ruined stone, and only because he wasn't _technically_ dead.

Saïx tended to avoid walking through this part of the castle, but Xemnas was at the highest balcony, and he needed to warn the Superior that Sora and his band of miscreants were fast approaching the castle. Xemnas did not enjoy being startled by the appearance of portals; there was no alternative to Saïx walking through the graveyard room.

Had he a heart, were he still Isa, the current state of the room would have certainly upset him. Of the twelve archways more than half of them had been destroyed; Zexion's so brutally that barely any of it remained. Demyx' doorway had fallen most recently, though Saïx only knew this from reports he had read; he had yet to see the remnants of the Melodious Nocturne's Proof of Existence. He spared it half a glance as he strode hastily up the aisle, determined to leave the room as quickly as possible.

Nothing in all his _days_ of being a Nobody had stopped him as dead and as cold as the sight that met his eyes. He had expected the ruins of Demyx' Proof, the crumbled stone between the two erect archways marking Numbers VIII and X; he was not surprised to see pieces of stone scattered across the glowing red sitar. But next to it, in the space where an archway should have stood high and bright blue above a single whirling spike, stood _nothing_.

Saïx' feet moved seemingly of their own accord, bringing their owner toe-to-stone with the glowing _red_ base that was the only proof of Number VIII's existence. Axel had defected and Axel had betrayed the Organization and Saïx himself had been chasing him down, hunting through the span of the worlds, coming so close but always falling just short of capturing the fiery redhead, and even if Saïx had a heart with which to care he wouldn't be Axel had _betrayed them_ and Axel should be punished for his disobedience to the Organization and the Superior.

Which was why Saïx could not possibly explain why he was falling to his knees on the cold stone floor, one hand inexplicably pressed to the single red chakram burned into the floor below him. Axel, who had evaded capture for so long, who was cunning and sly and double crossed Marluxia and Larxene, mercilessly eliminated Vexen and Zexion, defied the Superior, kidnapped a princess; this Axel could not _possibly_ have fallen victim to Sora.

But the _proof_ was right before his eyes, cold under his hand. Axel's existence had crumbled and faded the same way his body would have, bloody and broken and beaten by a keyblade wielded by that _child of light_. Saïx should _not_ have cared, he should not have been _capable_ of caring, had not the capacity to feel anything in regards to this death other than displeasure that yet another of their members had failed in controlling the spirited keyblade wielder.

And yet, regardless of what Saïx felt, some part of him, the part of him that he sometimes, in the deepest, quietest moments of night, thought of as Isa, held him on his knees, eyes staring unseeingly at the neon floor, seeing not the burned chakram but the smooth young face of Lea, boyish and innocent, childish and delighted. Unmarked, unscarred, full of emotion Axel wasn't capable of expressing, the face of Isa's _best friend_. Hadn't Lea been the reason Saïx joined Organization 13 in the first place? Axel, headstrong and brash as his Somebody had been, dragging him into this group of soulless boys desperate to regain any shreds of their humanity? Wasn't that why Saïx fought so hard, manipulated and lied and wormed his way into the second most powerful position, so that they could succeed? So that Lea could look at him just one more time with that mischievous glint in his bottle green eyes that Isa just _knew_ meant trouble?

But Axel was _dead_, and that meant Lea was dead. Saïx could fight as long and as hard as he wanted, no amount of manipulation was ever going to reunite the two best friends.

Regaining control of his limbs, Saïx pushed himself to his feet, glancing down at the red floor one last time before turning his gaze to the front of the room. He sealed the exit with quiet efficiency, linking it to the three remaining archways. Xemnas needn't be bothered now. Sora would have to get through Xigbar, Luxord, and himself before there was cause for concern, and Saïx personally would be fighting as though his entire existence depended on it.

Axel was dead. Sora killed him. Sora would die. Saïx would kill him. 


End file.
